Close Contact
by sistokid
Summary: SLASH. It's odd, their closeness. Tom notices the actual lack of space between himself and his cousin. At least contemplating it will give him something to do this weekend. Tom/Jake. Kind of incest-ish, I suppose.


**I finally just saw this movie about a month ago. I don't really even know what this story is.**

**This _does_ contain a homosexual relationship, though it's a rather innocent one and there's nothing truly graphic. So either man up and read it or go be a homophobic little bitch somewhere else.**

**Rated T because I don't know if there're curses. I already re-read like six times and I'm too lazy to check for no-no words.**

**And yes, I know they're cousins, but seriously, watch the movie and count on your fingers how many scenes they're in where there's less than a foot between them. You will run out of fingers and toes, I guarantee it. **

**Flames will be used to warm up my annoyingly cold dorm room.**

**Let me know if there are any spelling or grammatical errors. I hate those things.**

**Review if you'd like. It would be a lovely thing to do, but I'll live if you choose not to.**

**I don't own the characters. **

**Okay... go.**

Compared to the past few weekends, Tom couldn't help but feel like this one was eerily normal. Precisely three weeks ago, a small group of aliens tried to invade the Earth and Tom and his sisters and cousins defeated them and sent them running. Two weekends ago, a stray bear cub decided to chew on the side of their vacation home, because apparently whatever it is the siding of a house is made of tastes so much better than what the nearby blackberry bushes had to offer.

And then there was last Saturday, which was, at least in his twin cousins' opinions, the oddest yet. Because apparently someone had clogged the topmost floor's toilet with an entire newspaper, and it flooded horridly and trickled down to every floor beneath it. The entire house smelled, quite literally, like crap for the next four days.

So here sat Tom, playing Halo with Jake, and the house was completely silent, and peaceful, and lacking in anything interesting. He glanced at his cousin, who was absorbed completely in the game, tongue sticking out stupidly and thumbs going wild on the controller. God, Jake looked idiotic. Granted, he already had a knack for looking stupid- he just had that _face_, you know? It was the kind where a stranger could take a look at him and think, yeah, he's probably no Einstein.

Apparently Tom's lapse in concentration caused Jake's player to get shot and die, so out of a fit of anger Jake proceeded to grind his teeth. He completely forgot, however, that his tongue had been flopping out of his mouth from his massive focus, and he ended up biting the damn thing.

"Shit! Ow, ow, ow…" Jake pressed his fingers into his mouth, and pulled them out for inspection. "No blood… but _damn_ that hurt."

Tom refused to pay Jake any pity. Lately, things had been odd between them. Not awkward or weird or anything, but just _odd_. Since about a month ago, they had been really close. Not emotionally, but literally, physically close. No matter what was going on- beating up aliens, fixing up the siding on the house, or sharing Tom's bedroom because Jake's had been rained on by toilet water, they were hardly ever more than two feet from each other.

Not to say this irritated Tom or anything, but he had noticed it a while back and it just… was odd.

"Tom." Jake poked the brunette's knee with his own. "Tommy." Tom glared at him.

"You know I hate that name."

"You stopped playing. Dude, you're rhetorically killing me."

"You mean literally."

"Whatever. C'mon," Jake nudged Tom's shoulder with his own, pressing just a moment too long and a little too hard for it to be considered a normal nudge. "We can do something else if you're bored."

Tom thought for a moment. He was quite bored, to be honest, but the sort of entertainment that would fix that would have to top alien invasions and clogged toilets.

"Nah, this works. I was just thinking."

"You do that a lot," Jake commented. Tom glanced at him, wondering if he should take offence. "What about?"

"What?"

"What were you thinking about," the blonde clarified, jabbing the A button in quick succession.

"Us." Tom caught the quirky look his cousin shot him. "I mean, just… never mind, however I say it, it'll sound stupid and girly."

"Oh come on!" Jake threw his controller down harshly, crossing his arms like a pouting child. "Forget this. If you're not gonna focus, let's just put on a movie. Toy Soldiers it is." He quickly switched the television from the Xbox to the DVD player, and got the disc to start. "Anyway, what were you saying? I don't care if you sound stupid and girly. You sound like that normally, so it's fine."

"Go die."

"Seriously, what about us? You can't just start talking about me and then refuse to continue." Jake settled back on the puffy couch they were relaxing on, obliviously choosing to sit only about four inches from Tom. The other boy, however, noticed.

"Well, I mean… I just kind of noticed that you and I have been really… _really_ close lately."

"Well, duh, we only hang out every day. I mean, it's only natural."

"No," Tom sighed and gestured to the space- or lack thereof- between them. "I mean literally closer. As weird as this sounds, there's been like, zero space between us." He watched carefully as Jake processed his thought. The blonde peered down at their laps, which were mere inches from one another. After a moment, he scooted away, leaving a cold two feet between them.

"That's really weird that you noticed that," he finally replied, not making it sound remotely like a compliment. "And it's even weirder that it happened. Sorry, I didn't mean to get into your space. When I hang out with someone a lot, I get kind of touchy-feely with them. Not in a creepy way," he added quickly, noticing the questioning look on Tom's face. "I dunno. Sorry."

Tom felt off. He had simply meant to point out their closeness, and possibly examine it, not push away the other boy and destroy the lack of space. Now his entire right side, which had previously been in close quarters with Jake's, felt cold and lacking. He pulled his legs onto the couch, bending his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around himself.

"I didn't mean it like that." It had been a delayed response, but he felt the need to still put it out there. "I wasn't… it wasn't like I hated it or anything. I'm not usually close with people like that, and usually I hate it, but… it was okay." There was no response from the other boy, who was still clearly sulking on the arm of the couch. "Now I'm cold," he tried, hoping Jake would at least smile a little. Unfortunately, there was no change in his cousin, so Tom gave up. He curled himself into the couch and let his eyes close, blocking out the slight lonely feeling and drifting into a light sleep.

It must've been an hour later when he woke up, still balled on the couch. He was rolled into the fetal position, head presumably resting on a pillow, although his sleep-muddled brain slowly acknowledged that there weren't any pillows on this particular couch. Curiously, he lifted his head to find a pair of legs sticking out of what he thought was a pillow. Peeking up, he found Jake sitting up against the couch, still watching his movie. The blonde had apparently tugged Tom onto his lap, letting him use him as a pillow. Their earlier conversation, if that's what you'd call it, came floating back into his memory, and he slowly sat up.

Sitting up without previously scooting away a bit was, perhaps, not the best choice, for it brought their faces awkwardly close, and in the dark room with only the lighting from the television illuminating them, and considering the position Tom had just awoken into, it was just a bit too odd. For a split second, Tom felt like they were about to do that whole 'gazing into each other's eyes meaningfully and then slowly moving closer together, clearly anticipating a kiss' deal. Clearing his throat to try to shove away some tension, Tom inched back a little.

"Hi," Jake began, looking at the other unsurely. "Have a nice nap?"

"I thought you were mad at me," Tom commented. Jake ran his right hand, the hand furthest from Tom, through his own sandy hair.

"Um, not really. It was just a weird conversation to have, and I thought you were freaked out by human contact." Tom, to avoid eye contact, looked down between where his legs were still curled up and Jakes were stretched out comfortably.

"Where's your hand?" Tom stared between them intently. Jake shot him a confused look and waved his right hand- still the hand furthest from Tom. "No, your other one." It wasn't between them, like he expected it to be. He glanced up when no answer was given, to see Jake flushed and looking pointedly away. Tom followed the line of his left shoulder, which was quite near his own, to a lanky arm draped behind Tom. Finally his eyes found Jake's hand, which was curled warmly on Tom's back. He stared at it, trying to understand why it was there. "Were we… did you _cuddle_ me?"

"You said it didn't bother you," Jake muttered, quickly lifting his hand and bringing back to himself, once again crossing his arms. He still refused to look at his cousin.

"It… it…" Tom was about to say that it did, in fact, irk him, but the patch of cold that developed on his back where the hand had been stopped him. Truthfully, he had never been a physical contact person. He put up with his mother and father, and Hannah occasionally, but that was about it. But it was becoming increasingly obvious that he liked Jake's touchy-feely-ness. He looked back to Jake, who had wriggled a few inches away in his miniature tantrum.

Tom sat up, trying to sort this out. He was a smart kid, and rarely subject to denial, so it took him only seconds to admit that Jake was kind of a special thing to him. He refused to claim it as anything mushier or girlier, or, quite accurately, gayer.

He decided to try something. Realistically, Jake probably wasn't this close with other guys he knew. Tom seriously doubted that his friends from high school frequently used his lap as a pillow. So he waited the full two minutes it took for Jake to give up his sulking and uncross his arms, resting his hands on either side of his thighs. The hand closest to Tom was sprawled out weakly against the cushion, only a good inch and a half from his own pinky.

Slowly, so that Jake wouldn't catch on right away, Tom crept his hand over a quarter inch. After pausing and checking that Jake hadn't noticed, he scooted his hand over just a bit closer, now only a half inch from Jakes hand. Very carefully, he flipped his own hand over and in one swift motion, stuffed it a bit under Jake's hand. The blonde jumped a bit, looking down to see what lodged itself under his palm, only to find Tom's index and middle fingers pushed under. He gazed at it for a second, not moving when Tom pressed on and aligned his hand neatly under Jake's. But that's where he stopped; the next move was up to Jake.

For a painful second, Tom thought Jake was going to pull away, probably following up with a disgusted glare and a rant about how close contact didn't mean holding hands like girlfriends and boyfriends. But in a moment, his paranoia was chopped to bits when Jake shifted his hand and interlocked their fingers lightly.

It took about five minutes before either boy had the nerve to look up from either their hands or the television, but finally Jake made eye contact again when he scooted back over to Tom, forgoing the usual two inches and pressing their entire sides and legs firmly together.

It took another hour, after Jake had lazily flicked the movie off and turned on cartoons, for them to look at each other again. Tom kept doing those out-of-the-corner-of-his-eyes glances, hoping to catch Jake's attention without really seeming like he was begging for it. Eventually, he realized that Jake was doing the exact same thing, and they shyly turned their faces to fully look at each other. Due to their position and proximity, their faces- most importantly including their mouths- were within centimeters.

Jake smirked his stupid grin, and Tom could just _feel_ the pathetic blush squirming up his face. Slowly, as if any second now the other would back out and start yelling, the two moved in and experimentally pushed their mouths together. It was awkward, and clumsy, and clearly neither had previously kissed anyone else like this, but Tom liked it, and if the fact that Jake was pressing him down into the couch to straddle on top of him said anything, then the blonde wasn't too grossed out by this either. Jake pulled away after another few minutes of mushing their closed mouths together before pulling away. He smiled slightly down at Tom, and the two got lost in a moment that neither would ever admit to having because it was corny and lame and sounded like it came straight from one of Bethany's crappy romance novels.

Speaking of Bethany, said girl came stomping down the hallway, making her way noisily to the small room the two were in. From her high-pitched shouts, they realized she was coming to get them, and without further warning, she pretty much broke down the damn door.

Thinking quickly, which was rare for Jake, he noticed their awkward position. If Bethany saw, she'd wonder why Jake was straddling Tom's waist on the couch, and why both boys were flushing, and why their lips were red and kind of puffy. So he had two options. Either he could jump up really quickly and make it look like they were doing something they shouldn't have, or…

He quickly grabbed Tom's shoulders and flipped them off the couch, throwing the poor brunette to the floor and slamming down on top of him, successfully pinning the other boy all within the second it took Bethany to plow through the doorway.

"You two are fighting again? God, don't you ever get along?" She flipped a long strand of hair over her shoulder, placing her hands on her hips. "Anyway, Tom, mom wants you to help dad fix the twin's Wii." Without waiting for a reply, she turned on her heel and strutted out of the room, leaving Jake sitting on Tom's back, holding his arm behind him.

"That was close," Tom breathed. He wiggled for a moment. "Mind letting go of my arm before you snap it off?"

"My bad," Jake said, releasing the brunette's arm and pushing himself off. He settled next to Tom, who pushed himself to standing.

"I better go help them before one of the twins throws a fit. You coming with me?" He reached out a hand to help up Jake, who immediately took it and pulled himself up. Tom turned to leave, only jumping slightly when a hand entangled itself in his own. Together, the two boys ventured downstairs, only releasing their hands when they reached other people, but never straying more than a foot from each other.

Though he felt kind of stupid and mushy and all too cliché for thinking it, Tom couldn't help but feel that maybe this weekend wasn't as boring as he thought.


End file.
